There are three types of partition supported by fdisk, primary, extended and logical. The device driver maps the bytes over a seekable device, and user space is free to access any valid bytes in the array, in any order-it might read byte 12, then byte 7, and then byte 12 …

To accomplish more complex tasks, tools would simply be connected together, using pipes. Like so many others I have always thought that one of the greatest attributes of Linux is its diversity of choice, but there are those outside of the Linux world that see this as a negative. None …

On i386, for example, a register is used for each possible parameter-registers ebx, ecx, edx, esi, and edi contain, in order, the first five parameters. As users developed ways around the methods, the methods kept getting progressively harsher, severely punishing casual proprietary software users who had been legally using and …

awk is actually a programming language designed particularly for text manipulation, but it is widely used as an on-the-spot tool for administration. Notably, Linux is the fastest growing operating system released to date. Linux is a multiprocessing operating system, its objective is to have a process running on each CPU …

Automation is also a game-changer using the terminal. Open source has become the de facto way to build software - not only in tech, but across diverse industries. In 1991, this final gap was filled by Linux, a kernel which was written independently of the GNU project by Linus Torvalds, then …

Processes are separate tasks each with their own rights and responsibilities. By using open source software, you can benefit from integrated management. In this case, Direct Memory Access (DMA) controllers are used to allow hardware peripherals to directly access system memory but this access is under strict control and supervision …

One register might contain status describing an error. When new users encounter Linux, they often have a few misconceptions and false expectations of the system. While Microsoft and Apple development tools can cost upwards of hundreds of dollars, Linux, since its user base is comprised of a lot of developers …

From the inode number, the inode is found. To be safe, always put alias definitions on a separate line, and do not use alias in compound commands.and comments, except that the function name must be the first thing on the line. These extensions are collectively called GNU C, and …

This bleeding edge distro's repository is always up-to-date. Each class of device driver, character, block and network, provides common interfaces that the kernel uses when requesting services from them. Extended partitions are not real partitions at all, they contain any number of logical parititions. (There are a few instance where …

The default action for the SIGFPE signal will core dump the process and then cause it to exit. Each IDE controller can support up to two disks, one the master disk and the other the slave disk. People will stand up and take notice and realize that Linux is not …

When a command terminates on a fatal signal, bash uses the value of 128+signal as the exit status. Institutions that rely solely on commercial-proprietary vendors - whether on-premises or cloud-based - effectively outsource their IT strategy and reduce their capability to deal with change with agility. Specific filesystems, however, may impose …

It would not be enough to stop here, though. The world economy will not collapse if creators of software choose to share their work with the world. It may not be the best choice for word processing (or maybe it is -- read on), but many see it as an "ISP …

Over the years, Unix systems have supported a handful of different special files. Like so many others I have always thought that one of the greatest attributes of Linux is its diversity of choice, but there are those outside of the Linux world that see this as a negative. Quite …

Where Linux has shown a significant advantage over proprietary Unix is in its availability across a vast number of hardware platforms and devices. Another type of open source license is the artistic license, which ensures that the source code of the program is freely available yet allows the original author …

The receiving IP layer uses that protocol identifier to decide which layer to pass the received data up to, in this case the TCP layer. Kernel modules, like the kernel itself, are usually written in C. When Linux fixes up that page fault it finds the vm_area_struct data structure describing …

You may have already noticed that in order to execute shell script the file needs to be made executable by use of chmod +x FILENAME command. The kernel calls the modules initialization routine and, if it is successful it carries on installing the module. The g++ C++ compiler is ISO …

Many times, it does this in order to avoid vice, but counterintuitively, only ends up creating more of it in the process. At kernel initialization time, the address families built into the kernel register themselves with the BSD socket interface. This subshell reinitializes itself, so that the effect is as …

This is especially true for large contributions, new features, or standalone code, like a driver for a specific piece of hardware. Knowledge and information are the building blocks of change. A runnable process is one which is waiting only for a CPU to run on. In addition, in the open …

Binary compatibility is maintained across a given major version of glibc, at the very least. Does it support my critical applications? Linux aims toward POSIX and SUS compliance. Of course, most system calls have only a couple of parameters.

Getting Enlightenment to work with a dual screen monitor

When a command terminates on a fatal signal, bash uses the value of 128+signal as the exit status. Let's look at creating an image file so we can start a container which we created. Much of enterprise IT's excitement is focused on advancements at the application level (and rightly …

Some operating systems, such as VMS, provide highly structured files, supporting concepts such as records. Linux maintains the set of registered block devices as the blkdevs vector. A process is also associated with various system resources, which are arbitrated and managed by the kernel. Its own Software Center has tons …

So when you're writing something in your word processor and you want to check out something on the web, no need to review all your windows to find your browser, stacked all the way behind the others. If you are not already familiar with the GNU GPL, the best way …

Richard Stallman's stallman.org is a perfect example. This behaviour has spawned a whole new wave of viruses and is a gross breach of privacy. It will recognize a multiline header if the last character on each line but the last is a left parenthesis or comma. Much of enterprise …

For high speed devices, such as hard disk controllers or ethernet devices the data transfer rate is a lot higher. Even in the days before the Internet, information and so-called "intellectual property" could still be, and were, exchanged. The proto_ops data structure consists of the address family type and a …

This allows the ethernet layer to correctly receive IP packets and to pass them onto the IP layer. The boot disks are located in the bootdisks/ directory in the distribution tree. Indeed, they even have associated inodes. It is vital that we keep a philosophical approach so that our beliefs …

The first thing I do when I get a new computer is format my drive and install Linux. There are many ways to make money, so why choose a method that requires investing just as much time and effort into making software that lots of people want to use as …

Dynamically loading code as it is needed is attractive as it keeps the kernel size to a minimum and makes the kernel very flexible. For DOS formatted disks, those formatted by fdisk, there are four primary disk partitions. Linux is that power. The originator of the request, the client, creates …

The kernel allocates a new module data structure and enough kernel memory to hold the new module and puts it at the end of the kernel modules list. By virtue of its open source licensing, Linux is freely available to anyone. People who develop OSS commonly use the Internet to …

You can easily see the exported kernel symbols and their values by looking at /proc/ksyms or by using the ksyms utility. As the writing process writes to the pipe, bytes are copied into the shared data page and when the reading process reads from the pipe, bytes are copied …

This is one of those arguments that sounds good superficially but which is not borne out by the evidence. If the thief runs, he/she probably won't get caught, and it is a quick way to make some extra cash. If you've always wanted to learn programming, whether you want …

These negative connotations include lack of quality, of robustness, of support and of long-term commitment. The shell program is what presents the prompt and accepts subsequent commands. This means that it's not enough for a Linux platform to support what an enterprise needs right now. Copyright does not protect facts …

IP addresses on the other hand can be assigned and reassigned by network administrators at will but the network hardware responds only to ethernet frames with its own physical address or to special multicast addresses which all machines must receive. Any site that is requested through the "what's that site …

Device drivers have to be careful when using DMA. Let's face it; Windows OS is vulnerable to different types of attacks (or hacks). However, the root user is the only one who is able to add new users to the system. For self study it can be useful to have …

Institutions that rely solely on commercial-proprietary vendors - whether on-premises or cloud-based - effectively outsource their IT strategy and reduce their capability to deal with change with agility. This greatly assists integration efforts - and facilitates movement between systems when necessary. But, due to some recent changes, Ubuntu has switched back to GNOME …

All Unix versions and workalikes, including Linux, communciate between devices (computers, printers, cash registers, etc) using TCP/IP. Where Linux has shown a significant advantage over proprietary Unix is in its availability across a vast number of hardware platforms and devices. As both communities have matured over the past decade …

When a user-space application requests that a given filename be opened, the kernel opens the directory containing the filename and searches for the given name. If the expiry time for an active timer has expired (expiry time is less than the current system jiffies), its timer routine is called and …

A mechanism is needed whereby activities can be scheduled to run at some relatively precise time. The registered protocol operations are kept in the pops vector, a vector of pointers to proto_ops data structures. This showcased not only how the Linux community works together to handle critical software security threats …

The device driver places bytes onto the queue, one by one, and user space reads the bytes in the order that they were placed on the queue. Although Linux was only created in 1991, the number of Linux users estimated by Red Hat in 1998 was 7.5 million, and …

Linux runs faster than both Windows 8.1 and Windows 10 thanks to its light-weight architecture. Common feedback would include questions about how something works or why you chose a particular approach along with suggestions for improvements or requests for changes. A block device cannot transfer or access a unit …

The saved uid stores the original effective uid; its value is used in deciding what effective uid values the user may switch to. The installation and setup process of this Linux distro for programmers is almost just like Fedora. The address bus specifies the memory locations (addresses) for the data …